Kreetika Kumar 
[Source: Parliament of the Republic of Fiji/ Facebook]
The Fiji Police Force reported a $605,000 revenue shortfall in 2022, identified during a Standing Committee on Public Accounts submission.
Assistant Commissioner of Police Administration Meli Sateki attributed this to misconduct by a small number of officers, an issue which has been investigated.
He says the discrepancy was discovered through a reconciliation of police clearance applications and corresponding payments.
[Source: Parliament of the Republic of Fiji/ Facebook]
“We admit the fact that there were a few who committed offenses. And that has already been investigated. This was found out by reconciling the two points. From where it was processed. The record of how many were processed. And the amount of money. When they try to reconcile, it does not match. They calculate the amount of money that we should be collecting. After identifying the quantity of the police clearance process. And equating it with the amount of money that we collected. So this is where the deficiency is coming from.”
ACP Sateki acknowledges that there were discrepancies between the number of police clearances processed and the amount of money collected.
[Source: Parliament of the Republic of Fiji/ Facebook]
However, he adds that this has been minimized.
To ensure no further issues arise, ACP Sateki confirms that EFTPOS machines are now available at all police clearance or revenue collection points, and M-PAiSA is also an option.
[Source: Parliament of the Republic of Fiji/ Facebook]
He adds that their IT team, with assistance from UNDP, is working to develop a completely cashless system, which he believes will eliminate opportunities for misappropriation of funds or embezzlement.
